istanbul

fun city. different than the rest of the european cities you'll go to because of the muslim influence. you can even hop on a boat and go to asia. the grand and spice bazaar's are cool too. lots of good shopping and the vendors bug you a lot. they have the blue mosque and the hagia sophia. the hagia is cool because it was a church and a mosque at different times in history. so you can see images of mary and muslim stuff. nice contrast. the blue mosque really isn't that blue. free to go though. and go to a turkish bath too. just fun to try it. one of those experiences that you should have. when i did it i had no clue what to do. just sat around trying to copy what other people were doing then all these turkish guys started yelling at me. very confusing. but funny. i think i can't give blood now that i've been to turkey. i ate chicken there during the avian flu scare. i'm invincible.